Economic and Energy Efficiency of Farms in Poland

Climate change and negative environmental effects are results of a simplified understanding of management processes, i.e., assuming economic effects as the basis for development, without taking into account external costs. Economically efficient facilities are not always environmentally efficient. Due to the existing conflict of economic and environmental goals, it seems necessary to look for measures that would include both economic and environmental elements in their structure. The above doubts were the main reasons for undertaking this research. One of the important sectors of the economy accepted for research, where energy is an essential factor of production, is agriculture. Agricultural production is very diversified both in terms of inputs and final products. Depending on the production direction, the processes of conversion of energy accumulated in inputs into energy accumulated in commodity products have different natures and relationships. Taking into account the importance of agriculture in the national economy and the current environmental needs of the world, the types of farms generating energy surplus and those in which the surplus is the least cost-consuming were indicated. The research used the economic and energy efficiency index, which makes it possible to jointly assess technical and economic efficiency. Assuming the need to produce food with low energy consumption and a positive energy balance, it is reasonable to develop a support system for those farms showing the highest economic and energy efficiency indicators.

Automated summary

The research highlights the need for measures that combine economic and environmental elements due to the conflict between economic and environmental goals. By evaluating technical and economic efficiency indices, it can promote the development of farms that produce food with low energy consumption and a positive energy balance.